


AC2014 [10]: Since There's No Place To Go

by twotenths



Series: F1 Advent Challenge 2014 [7]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Advent Challenge 2014, Alternate Universe- Technology Store, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2751752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twotenths/pseuds/twotenths
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s one guy that’s standing at the tablet shelf, holding a box in each hand and looking between them, as though one of them will leap forward and beg to be bought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	AC2014 [10]: Since There's No Place To Go

**Author's Note:**

> Title shamelessly ripped from the lyrics of "Let It Snow". An exercise in how late I can leave it in the day and still be able to post a fic before midnight.

Bruno is irritated.

He wasn’t meant to be doing the late shift tonight, but Lucas had had an “emergency”, and had dashed off into the bitter weather outside, throwing him a cheery wave as he departed. Bruno wonders what emergency anyone would look so cheerful about and concludes that he’s just having him on, and is off playing on his Xbox. He calls him several rude names under his breath, feeling particularly uncharitable towards his friend, as he drums his fingers in the counter impatiently, waiting until he can lock up. It’s dark and snowing outside, and Bruno is surprised anyone is still shopping. He expects it’s all the last minute shoppers, guiltily buying expensive gifts for relatives they overlooked, and really, it’s why the shop had stayed open so late, attracting customers that would have otherwise gone to Argos or PC World.

There’s one guy that’s standing at the tablet shelf, holding a box in each hand and looking between them, as though one of them will leap forward and beg to be bought. _It’s almost endearing,_ Bruno thinks, _the look of utter bewilderment on his face._ He sighs, and lets himself out from behind the counter; the sooner he can convince his customers what to buy, the sooner he can get home.

“Can I help?” he asks, making the other man jump, snapping him out of his box gazing reverie.

“Oh! Hi yes, I don’t know what to pick,” he holds up the boxes with a grimace, “They’re both making very persuasive arguments.”

Bruno grins; apparently he’s not the only one that anthropomorphises inanimate objects for his own amusement. “Well, they’re both very good tablets, who are you buying for?”

“Myself,” he replies, looking a bit embarrassed. “I’m kind of spending Christmas by myself this year, my plane to India got cancelled because of the weather, so I figured I’d treat myself.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Bruno says, his forehead creasing in a frown of sympathy. “I’m not doing much this year either.”

“Ah, maybe you should buy yourself a tablet too Bruno?” he says, grinning.

“I’m pretty well equipped .. When it comes to computers and stuff,” he adds quickly, blushing. He pauses, and eyebrows knot together in confusion, “How do you know my name?”

“Name tag,” the man replies, pointing at the badge on Bruno’s chest, “I’m Karun, by the way.”

Bruno is feeling more flustered by the minute. “Nice to meet you.” he says, shaking his hand.

A short silence stretches out between them, before Karun prompts, “So, you were telling me about these tablets?”

“Right!” Bruno says hastily, “Well this one works on Windows 8.1 so it’s useful if you want it to double up as a laptop, but it does mean you have to live with all the many flaws of that operating system. It’s not as bad on a tablet as on a laptop but it’s still not great. This one is Android and their app store is basically as big as Apple now, so you’ll be able to get just as many apps as if you got an iPad. They both have the same size screen, but there are differences in picture quality; 207 ppi vs 180, so if you’re watching films, you’re better off having this one _but_ you will need to get external speakers, because the built in speaker on it is at the back, which really is huge flaw that everyone has been complaining about on the Tech Forum, and ..” He trails off, noticing Karun’s glazed expression. “What did you want to use it for?”

“Uhh, playing on Twitter and Candy Crush, mostly,” he replies with a sheepish grin.

Bruno sighs, and then points at the Android tablet. “That one then.”

“Why?”

“It’s cheaper.”

Karun laughs, putting the other tablet back on the shelf, “I’m not sure a salesman is _meant_ to recommend the cheaper product to a customer!”

Bruno shrugs a little self-consciously, “I’m not very good at lying, I just want each customer to have the best for them.”

Karun cocks his head and smiles at him. “That’s sweet of you.”

If he was blushing before, it felt like his face was on fire now. “Shall I ring this up for you then?”

Maybe it’s just because he’s lonely, and it’s nearly Christmas, and his inner voice (who sounds a _lot_ like Lucas) is yelling at him to get his leg over, but he finds himself drawn to Karun, who seems nice and funny and not at all like Nelson (what a mistake that had been). His confidence took a battering, getting dumped by that emotionally abusive arsehole just weeks before Christmas, and he’s never really been any good at asking someone out.

Karun takes out his phone as Bruno scans the barcode on the tablet box, tapping out a text to someone. “What happened to your phone?” he asks, pointing at the cracked screen.

“Oh, I was play fighting with Enzo and it fell out of my pocket,” he chuckles. Bruno feels his face fall.

“Boyfriend?” he asks, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Karun gives him an amused look, “No, my dog!” He holds out the phone so Bruno can see his wallpaper: a huge German Shepherd, tongue lolling out of his lazy Dog grin.

“Oh! I have two Samoyeds back in Brazil, Cookie and Tiffany.” He holds out his own phone (a brand new HTC One M8, naturally, Bruno is a technology geek in all aspects of his life) and shows him a picture of his fluffy white dogs.

“Cute!” Karun says, picking up his bag, and he lingers for a moment, as though he was steeling himself to say something. Eventually, he sighs, then smiles at Bruno. “Thanks for the recommendation.”

“I can fix the screen if you want,” Bruno blurts out in a rush, and Karun pauses, looking back at him with raised eyebrows.

“You know how to?”

Bruno spreads his arms wearily, as if to say, _What makes you think a dork like me working in a place like here doesn’t?_ “I’ve got all the tools here, it should only take about 15 minutes?”

Karun smiles. “Thanks.”

He hands his phone over and props himself next to the counter, and natters away to Bruno about anything and everything; stories about Enzo, his family in India, why he’s in England. Bruno nods  and smiles, laughing at the anecdotes and asking leading questions, pausing only to serve customers who all seem to be leaving in a mass exodus. Forty three minutes later, he screws the casing back together, feeling slightly disappointed he couldn’t drag it out any longer as he hands it back to Karun.

“Thanks,” Karun says warmly, digging in his pocket for his wallet, “How much do I owe you?”

Bruno shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, no charge.”

“Come on, I have to pay you something!”

“Really, it’s okay.”

“If you’re sure ..”

 Bruno nods and Karun smiles widely. “Thanks!” he looks down at his newly repaired phone and glances at the clock. “Blimey, is that the time? I should let you get back home, I should get back myself!”

Bruno glances at his own watch and is surprised at the time, given how petulant he had been earlier about having to stay late. “Yeah, I guess we really should go ..”

He grabs the keys and switches off the lights, making his way to the front of the shop, where Karun has stopped dead, peering at the door. “I think we might have a problem?” he says in a conversational tone, gesturing at the shop front.

It had been snowing all day, but now it is practically a blizzard and snow is piled high against the door. Bruno put a shoulder against it and tried to shove it open, but the snow was piled too high and the winds too strong. The door was tricky at the best of times, often sticking in environmental extremes, and it was clear that there would be no escape for them until someone had come by in the morning to dig them out.

“ _Merda!_ ” Bruno swears under his breath, rattling the door handle in annoyance. He shoots an apologetic look at Karun. “Sorry about this, I don’t think we’ll be able to get out tonight.”

Karun, who looks utterly unfazed, settles himself on the floor, leaning up against the counter. “It’s not your fault.”

“Well, if I hadn’t taken so long to fix your phone ..” He shoots a sheepish look at Karun.

Karun smiles guiltily, “I expect me nattering in your ear prolonged the process a fair bit, so it’s kind of my fault.”

“I didn’t mind,” Bruno says, ducking his head as he grins and blushes.

Karun pats the floor next to him, “Well since we’ve no place to go, I wouldn’t mind hearing a bit more about you.”

Bruno folds his limbs as he sits down next to Karun, looking at the door, then back to Karun with a shy grin. Suddenly he doesn’t feel quite so bad about being snowed in.


End file.
